New Beginnings
by carla-and-peter-corrie
Summary: As Carla and Peter attempt to start a family will there happiness last? will Leanne yet again ruin things? or will having a child be too much for Carla to cope with? Contains mild language, fight scenes, sexual references, mentions of depression. Most of the characters linked with Carla and Peter are in this story so i've just added the main ones
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1,

It was a February morning, a dull, bleak one. The rain hammered down on the brown and black cobbles of Coronation Street, the not so perfect start to the kid's school holidays. Peter stood by the window in the flat he shared with Carla and their newly born daughter Lexi. Having a child was supposed to be a fresh start for both Carla and Peter. Carla had promised to stop drinking and Peter wanted to have a child that he knew right from the day they were born. It had been a fairly easy pregnancy; Carla being Carla had worked up to the last day and nearly had their daughter in the factory but with Michelle's help Lexi was delivered safely in the hospital. They had been so happy and content since their beautiful daughter Lexi was born 2 weeks ago and everything had been going so well, having a baby had definitely made Carla and Peter's relationship stronger. But this week was Carla's first day back at work and Peter was going back to the bookies part time, letting Deidre work the rest of it. Even though Peter felt it was too early to leave Lexi with Carla's unreliable nephew, he had to agree with what his girlfriend wanted. She was a very stubborn lady. They were both nervous; leaving their daughter without them for the first time was a massive step...

Peter pulled the white pack of cigarettes he's been craving out of his jean pocket and went to find a lighter. Ever since Lexi had been born Carla had band Peter from smoking, apparently it was bad for their little girl to be brought up in an environment with smoking. As much as Peter agreed with his girlfriend, smoking was a habit, a bad habit and hard to stop. Peter searched through the draws of their top of the range kitchen till he found his orange lighter Carla had hidden from him; Carla really needed to improve her hiding places. He went and stood back by the window, opening it a jar, letting the fine rain droplets in. He brought the cigarette to his mouth and savoured the sweet taste he'd been craving so much. He stood there blowing the smoke out of the window, looking at the rain falling to the cold, brown floor, lost in his own world.

"Peter!" Carla shouted, her sharp voice bringing Peter back into harsh reality. He turned around to see his beloved girlfriend standing there in black trousers and a dark purple top, her black hair flowing past her shoulders. "What the hell do you think you're doing, I've told you no smoking!" Carla continued to rant at her boyfriend about how it was bad for Lexi etc etc etc. Peter stood there with his hands in his back pockets whilst getting lecture from Carla. "Look, love. I just needed a smoke, just 1 smoke it won't make a difference. I promise this will be my last one," Peter said to Carla. She shook her head in dismay, "You're just about to go in and have contact with Lexi. Peter...every time you say you're gonna stop doing something you always continue to do it. I don't know when to believe you anymore. I'm going to work now, Ryan said he'd have Lexi from midday so if you wouldn't mind dropping her off for me. I need to get to the factory." With that Carla grabbed her designer black coat, red designer handbag and walked out of the flat.

Peter sighed and went into the bedroom he shared with Carla and now Lexi, whilst she develops enough to have her own room. Lexi was lying in her white cradle, her beautiful brown eyes looking up at her dad. Peter smiled down at her, "Hello Beautiful," he whispered in a soft voice. He bent down a slowly lifted Lexi up into his arms, treating her like a china doll. He cradled her in his masculine arms and walked her through to the lounge. "You like it down here," Peter said as he gently placed his daughter down onto her play mat his Peters dad had bought her. Lexi waved her arms around attempting to catch the toys that dangled above her. Peter sat on the edge of the sofa and admired his daughter as he watched her playing with the toys that hung above her. The peace didn't last long when the flat intercom buzzer went. "Stay there beautiful," Peter whispered to Lexi as he got up to answer the door.

Peter picked up the white phone and said hello into it. He wasn't pleasantly surprise to hear the voice of his Ex (Leanne) whittling down the phone. Peter let out a sigh and pressed the button allowing Leanne to come up into the flat. Leanne walked through the door like it was still her own home, she chucked her bag on the table and perched herself on the arm of the sofa.

"What do you want?" Peter questioned her.

"What I want is for you to look after your son tonight, that is of course if you don't need to wash your hair," Leanne said adding a sarcastic tone to the last bit.

"You know I'll look after Si any time. Just say what time you want to drop him off and I'll arrange it," Peter said, the thought of spending the evening with his son made him feel warm inside.

"I'll drop him off at 5 and I'll come and get him at around 8," Leanne said and with that she picked up her bag and showed herself out of the flat.

Peter went back and sat on the sofa, looking down at his newly born daughter, "She's a handful that one Lex, at least you get to see Simon tonight hey," Peter said cheerfully. He couldn't wait to spend time with his Son.

That's the 1st chapter thanks for reading and please review Jaz xx


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2,

The rest of the morning flew by and before Peter knew it he had to drop Lexi off with Ryan. Peter was still unconvinced this was the right place for Lexi to be staying for 5 hours but he wanted to keep Carla happy. It wasn't as if Carla had full control of the relationship but when it came to Lexi's care and earning money for the family Carla was usually involved. Seen as she owned her on business and had made a very good living for herself it seemed quite reasonable. All in all the relationship between Carla and Peter was a balanced one, nobody really wore the trousers in the relationship.

Peter picked Lexi up gently cradling her in his arms. He walked into Simon's old bedroom and slowly placed Lexi in the pram and put a pink blanket over the top of her. Carla had sorted out the changing bag the night before; she wanted everything to be perfect so Ryan didn't have any troubles. Peter put the bag in the bottom of the pram then began to go out onto the street.

The only problem with living in a flat was getting the pram up and down the stairs. It took at least 5 minutes, it could be done quicker but Peter never wanted to upset Lexi or make her unsettled in the pram. Peter slowly moved the ram down a step, one at a time. Carla and Peter had talked about buying a house many a time but they could never find any in the local area. Neither of them wanted to move out of Wetherfield as both their businesses were there and their friends.

Once Peter had got the bottom of the stairs he locked the black flat door and began to walk down the cobbled street. The pram rolled with ease down the pavement and Peter enjoyed the walk to Michelle's flat that was located next to the kebab shop. The heavy rain had stopped and now only the odd drop fell from the cloudy sky. There were puddles in the cracks on the pavement which Peter dodged not wanting to get the pram too wet. It wasn't really a long walk but Peter treasured every second he got to spend with Lexi

She was a beautiful baby, she had her dad's eyes but she looked a lot like her mum. She had short strands of raven black hair; it had grown a lot since she was born. When Lexi was born she weighed 6lb 5oz which was quite a small baby but she was perfectly healthy. Carla had decided whilst she was young she should be dressed in a lot of pink just for tradition but she had so many clothes that had been given as gifts to Carla and Peter.

Peter knocked on the green door of Michelle's flat and soon heard Ryan's footsteps coming down the stairs. "Alright," Ryan said when he opened the door.

"Right, gently lift the pram upstairs, in her bag there's some toys, bottle, nappies and some spare clothes. She'll need to have a nap in 2 hours and a bottle in 3, Carla will pick her up at 5. And remember she's not a toy." Peter said to Ryan before kissing Lexi gently on the head and walking back down the cobbled streets towards the bookies.

Sorry it's so short, I'm such a rubbish writer so let me know if you want me to continue or if you want me to stop.

Jaz xx


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3,

**I've tried to make the scene swaps clear but sorry if they're a bit messy and not clear. Sorry for the last one being so short, I'll try and make them longer from now on.**

"She's not a toy blahblahblah. How old does he think I am? I'm capable of looking after my own cousin." Ryan mimicked as he walked back up the flat stairs. Ryan was fed up, fed up of people thinking he was still the same person he was before. He wasn't, he knew he wasn't he had really made the effort to change. Since Katie had broken up with him and got back with Chesney he'd realised he needed to become as better person. Michelle and Steve had both sat him down and told him he needed to improve his attitude and maturity towards the people he loved. Ryan knew that and he had improved his behaviour he knew that but Peter still wasn't to convinced.

When Ryan reached the top of the stairs he opened the dark brown door and walked into the flat. He gently laid Lexi in the middle of the sofa and rolled out her play mat on the floor by the TV. Ryan looked anxiously around the small flat making sure nothing breakable was on the floor, he didn't want to mess up nobody would ever trust him again. He moved away the vase of flowers Steve had bought Michelle off the floor and onto the wooden kitchen table. "Right, think its all safe now," Ryan said to Lexi as he lifted her into his strong masculine arms and slowly placed her on the colourful mat. "Umm, I guess that's all I need to do umm I'll leave you to it," Ryan said, he'd never looked after a child before let alone a 2 week year old. Ryan went into his room and loaded up his laptop and began googling random things.

When Peter reached the bookies he opened the door and walked in to be hit with the smell off cleaning products. Peter glanced around the bookies; it was the cleanest he'd ever remembered it being. "Deidre! Deidre are you still here!" Peter shouted into the office behind the counter. Peter received no answer, now he began to worry. Where was she? Peter stepped up to behind the counter and went into the office. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Deirdre standing there with a mop in her hand. "Oh hi Peter, when did you get here?" Deidre asked.

"Um like 5 minutes ago, I've been shouting you and you didn't answer. Anyway what's with all the cleaning?" Peter asked. It wasn't like Deidre to just start cleaning the bookies; she always said it was Peter and Carla's responsibility. "I just thought I'd help you out, well with having Lexi and everything you've got a lot to do. But this is a one off; don't expect it to be a regular thing." Deidre said to Peter then leant the mop back up against the white walls. "I'll be off then, "Deidre said as she picked up her bags. "Yeah, we might pop round later on. Thanks for today," Peter said then ushered Deidre out of the door.

Peter went and sat on one of the black stalls in front of the bookies counter. He leant down and fiddled with one of the blue pens. He couldn't stop thinking about Lexi, he'd only been away from her for 20 minutes if that but he missed her like mad. It wasn't like Peter didn't trust Ryan, he just wanted to be there for his daughter, and he wanted to spend as much time with Lexi as he possibly could. He knew how much it hurt not to spend the fist years with your child; he didn't want to feel that pain again.

The factory was silent; everyone was getting on with their work after the lecture they received from Carla that morning. There was an atmosphere in the air, and it wasn't pleasant, it could be cut with a knife. Michelle and Carla sat in their office, also in silence; Michelle wouldn't dare talk to Carla the mood she was in. Leaving Lexi with Ryan was a big step for Carla and she was taking her stress out on everyone around her, which made very uncomfortable atmospheres in the factory. Michelle fiddled with her pen in her sweaty palms, she'd wanted to speak to Carla for ages but she didn't want to be snapped at. "Carla," Michelle eventually croaked- Carla looked at her over the computer. Carla's green eyes stayed laid upon Michelle. Michelle swallowed hard then continued, "Look, I think you were a bit harsh on them lot earlier, maybe you should apologise," Carla just raised her eyebrows then got back to what she was doing on her computer. Nobody could get anything out of her today, it was impossible.

Time ticked on and everyone in the factory kept their heads down, just getting on with the work they'd been assigned. Carla glanced at her Gucci watch she wore on her left watch. It was only 4pm; she still had an hour before she would be re-united with her daughter. Carla let out a sigh then stood up from her desk and walked over to Michelle, placing her hands on her best friend's shoulders. "I'm sorry about earlier, you were right I was harsh on them and I'm going to go and apologise now," Carla said whilst resting her chin on Michelle's head. Michelle span round in her chair, knocking Carla briefly off balance, then held Carla's hands in hers. "I'm glad you've seen sense, everything's going to be ok I promise it might just take a few weeks." Michelle said to Carla. Carla smiled weakly then walked out of the office to apologise to her work crew.

Carla stood at the front of the machines; she looked at all of her employees. Carla fiddled with her hands in front of her stomach and then coughed to gain everyone's attention. Around 10 pairs of eyes looked up at her and in the first time in a long time Carla suddenly felt nervous. The butterfly feeling appeared in her stomach and her palms began to sweat. "I um, I just wanted to apologise for this morning. I shouldn't of snapped at you this morning, I'm also very grateful for the effort you've put in today so um if you want to go home now as a reward. Thanks again." Carla finished then walked back into the office and sat in her black chair. She logged off the computer and then tidied away all of the paper work. "You going somewhere?" Michelle asked. Carla looked up from her desk and smiled at Michelle. "I've told them all they can go so I was going to shoot off, you can as well," Carla replied then began to pack everything into her bag. "Oh right um thanks," Michelle said quickly before Carla could change her mind.

Ryan sat in his room on his laptop, almost forgetting the fact he was looking after his cousin, Lexi. He glanced at the clock that hung on his bedroom wall. 4:15pm. "Shit," Ryan whispered to himself, he'd almost forgot to feed Lexi. He shut the lid of his computer without logging off then walked into the living room where his cousin was still laying on her play mat.

Ryan walked over to the kitchen table where he'd put the bag Peter had given to him. He pulled out the bottle of milk that was in the bag and walked over to Lexi. Ryan lifted Lexi off the floor and into his arms; he was just about to feed her when he remembered he forgot her bib. "Wait, just 1 more minute," Ryan said to Lexi before placing her on the sofa and walking back over to the bag.

Lexi waved her arms in the air, trying to grab the dust particles that flew over her. She attempted to shift herself so she could grab them but failed and instead rolled off the sofa, whacking her head on the sharp corner of the coffee table. Screams suddenly filled the air then followed by silence.

Ryan turned around to see what at happened but all he saw was Lexi laying on the floor motionless, blood trickling down her head.

**Please review and let me know what you think about the chapter. Should I continue to drift in and out of scenes or not? I hope it made sense and I'll write the next chapter as soon as I can.**

**Jaz xxx**


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